Let's talk about the coming revolution, shall we?

[tavalon]

No, not the bloody, take up arms and somehow expect to overthrow the government, revolution. There are a thousand reasons why that one isn't going to happen and just as many reasons why we wouldn't want that to happen, even if, by some accident (think WTO) it actually worked, because nature abhors a vacuum. As scared and anxious as so many of us are as we come to the end of this empire, the rapid fall a bloody revolution would take us to is not a place any of us actually want to go to. Ask Iraq.

But America is changing. I think other fledgling empires are waiting in the wings, waiting to take the world stage. If I weren't so damn scared about what comes after, I would happily hold the curtain open for them. We are revolving off of the front stage, whether we want to or not. So lets talk about what We The People need to do in these coming years.

I'm personally looking toward a more communal, less consumer driven situation. It appears that fewer, far fewer of us will have income. That leads me to believe that some form of "from each as they are able, to each as they require". I don't think much, if any, of our salvation will be coming from DC (I promise you would never have heard that from me 2 years ago. 2 years ago, I still believed in the power of a charismatic leader and in this Government. Now, I doubt greatly).

So, what is your next step? A few years ago, I was looking to move to Canada and I still look at Vancouver with longing, but the U.S. is a huge nation and she will not fall in isolation. I don't think, short of a deserted island, getting away from her will protect us.

I've been looking at Lessing's Constitutional Convention idea but I can't visualize the steps and the things that will be in our way. If you have some ideas of how that might come to pass, would you share them here?

One thing I would rather not have this conversation hijacked by is by discussing whether this empire is ending. For the sake of this conversation, that needs to be a given. If you think it isn't, please don't contribute to this discussion. Thanks.

[RandomThoughts]

1. The one thing I know, is I wont become them to stop them.

So shrug, who knows, might as well listen to music.


Simon & Garfunkel - Slip Sliding Away
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8nec2_simon-garfunkel-slip-sliding-away-f_music

[tavalon]

2. Well, that was, in fact, random

It's ending. Are you going to be our musical director? ;)

[brer cat]

3. See this post for starters

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x84428

Eat local, buy local, keep your money at home.

[tavalon]

4. Yeah, that's a good one

[HillbillyBob]

5. We came to the same kind of conclusions several years ago

after partner was outsourced for the last 2 x in less than 6 mos.
We are lowering our energy needs, making the house most efficient on a very small budget. We started collecting seeds then heirloom seeds around 2004. I have quit using plastic as much as we can..as old stuff dies, from plastic storage containers to appliances we recycle, reuse etc. We both grew up with Depression Era grand parents and g grandparents.
We have seen our household income drop by 75%.
I am long term hiv patient, cancer survivor, and have heart condition ..kind of hard to get a homestead/ecofarm started but we are trying. My partner is still working, but he has taken such hits in pay we are barely keeping up and that is with the realization that many are worse off(We each have been homeless, me 3x for 2 yrs 1x, several months the others).

We are going to have to become communities again.
We swap with our neighbors, not in any organized way. I have some tomatoes do you want some? They bring over some of their produce to us. We share tools too. If the baggies get their way and we end up with dominion fascist sp as preznit I fear we will have to form mutual protection militias.

[TBF]

6. I dunno about that - I think there's still the possibility for violence.

Republicans are going to be back in power in 2012, and the austerity cuts will be even deeper than they are proposing now ... how much more can this nation take?

[tavalon]

14. We really can't discuss that on this forum, nor would I want to

I'm not looking for bloody revolution as I understand the power vacuum it creates and the awful lowlifes who usually fill that vacuum.

[tama]

7. From each as they are able, to each as they require

Yup, the grass roots revolution of gradually walking away from the consumer society and consumer attitude is going on all the time. This revolution is a continuouss one, revolution of multiple generations. Not a revolution of some utopian ideology (though networks of largely self-sufficient small communities with great variety seems to be the best working idea so far) but the revolution of walking the path.

Last summer I lived in an ecovillage in the countryside that is also the hub of a larger and open tribe, learned a lot and experienced wonderfull beauty. Moved into a new community located in the borderzone between city and rural worlds, close to gardening school where I study. 10+ people, 1,5 hectares of garden with lots of old edible trees and bushes. Learning practical skills and especially communal living, realizing better and better that all we really need to survive is each other, love and compassion in our hearts. There is no hurry, this is the baby step revolution, slowly relearning to walk the Earth with footprints that don't destroy the foundation of our life but add to the beauty of All.

Indeed, I've learned that walking barefoot makes me more healty and happy, relearning to walk the natural way, touching the ground first with the ball of the foot instead of the heel.

This revolution is a long walk, full of beauty but also sorrow as we give up so many old attachments and dreams. This is healthy sorrow from which we will rise up to find our true humanity and nature, full of joy.

[bluetrain]

8. Revolutions are always bloody.

[Le Taz Hot]

9. You almost beat me to it!

I know I keep threatening this but I'm in the process of writing an extensive missive that I'll post on DU, talking exactly about what's next, how we survive and the quiet revolution that will be a by-product of the New Way.

[kctim]

10. I hate to be blunt

but the communal "from each as they are able, to each as they require" BS won't cut it in this near future you fearfully predict.

IF you really fear such a thing happening, why not ask the far-right for advice, seeing how they have been preparing for such a thing for decades and all.

[bvar22]

11. We chose the "Move to an Island" option,

though our "island" isn't offshore.
Its in the middle of a very rural area of The South surrounded by National Forest with plenty of clean water.
Our focus is to deny funding to the WAR Oligarchs by living well on a very low taxable income.
Wall Street will just have to get along without any bailout money from us.
The WARS will have to find a way to continue without our money and labor.
The Politicians too.

We now spend our time on local community/humanitarian issues, producing MORE and Consuming LESS.
Less IS More.

When the Working Class & The Poor finally realize that we have MORE in common with each other than we have in common with the Ruling Class Aristocrats of BOTH Political Parties, "CHANGE" will be inevitable.
There is a blueprint for this "CHANGE" through near bloodless revolutions.
Look to South America for this blueprint.
They have shown us how to do it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. We need to plan on how to influence the successor state

Where we are left...I believe the country, truly an inland empire, will not survive...and the tenthers will just get louder.

Oh and do vote just to keep the practice, not the belief that it truly matters.

Be ready to grow food and help neighbors, and for successors to fully isolate themselves. And in a few places you may have actual violence.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. as for myself and my family

we are going back to a more simpler notion of living off and caring for the land.